Venture Capital - the relationship layer for VC | Connect The Dots
The relationship layer for venture capital
Founders ignore cold outreach. Warm introductions win deals - and grow your portfolio. Your fund's network already has warm paths to the founders you want to back, and to the customers, key hires and partners your portfolio companies need. CTD scores relationship strength across your entire firm so you always find the warm path.
The relationship capital problem
The relationships exist. The firm just can't see them.
Venture firms have deal-flow tools, CRMs and market maps. None of them can answer the one question that matters: who on our team actually knows this person well enough to make an introduction?
The paths are already there
A portfolio founder's former CTO is now VP Engineering at your next target. A partner's college roommate runs BD at the acquirer you've been circling. These paths exist - your CRM doesn't know about them, and LinkedIn can't score them.
LinkedIn shows connections. CTD shows relationships.
When LinkedIn started, a connection meant something. Today the average professional has thousands - most of whom they couldn't introduce you to if they tried. CTD scores how well your people actually know someone.
60
portfolio companies
500+
founders & execs across the portfolio
5M+
first-degree connections across the fund
Here's what most funds miss: when portfolio founders join CTD as free external members, their entire first-degree network becomes visible to the fund. Sixty founders can unlock 5M+ warm paths - turning your portfolio into your greatest sourcing advantage.
CRM + LinkedIn vs CTD
You have a CRM and LinkedIn. Here's what they can't do.
CTD gives you five capabilities neither tool can. Comparing us to Affinity? Read the full breakdown →
| Your CRM & LinkedIn | With CTD |
|---|---|
| 01 | Your CRM shows companies you're already tracking. |
| CTD shows who in your network already knows the founders, | |
| executives and board members at any company - before you | |
| ever reach out. | |
| 02 | LinkedIn only maps connections made on LinkedIn. |
| CTD maps LinkedIn plus email - surfacing thousands of | |
| relationships per person that don't exist on LinkedIn at | |
| all. | |
| 03 | LinkedIn can't show your founders' networks. |
| When portfolio founders join as external members, their | |
| first-degree relationships become visible warm paths for | |
| the whole fund. | |
| 04 | LinkedIn doesn't infer relationships. |
| CTD detects relationships from overlapping employment, | |
| shared board seats and career signals - even with no direct | |
| email or LinkedIn connection. | |
| 05 | LinkedIn treats all connections the same. |
| CTD scores every relationship using email patterns, recency | |
| and career overlaps - so you know who actually has a | |
| strong relationship, not just a connection. |
How it works
Built for the way VC firms operate
Four steps from deployment to measurable, relationship-driven outcomes.
Onboard your fund's network
Connect your firm's email server - no individual setup required. CTD maps every relationship automatically within days, then enriches it with publicly available data to surface even more warm paths.Build the fund's Supergraph
Relationships are ranked by strength, deduplicated and made searchable across partners, advisors, portfolio founders and extended members.Search any target
Find warm paths to founders, executives or board members at any company - instantly, across the fund's entire collective network.Activate warm introductions
One-click intro requests go to the best-positioned connector, with timing managed to prevent overlap and connector fatigue. Track volume, conversion and outcomes.Expand it to your portfolio companies
Invite your portfolio founders to join CTD - their networks become warm paths for the whole fund, and they get CTD to grow their own companies. The more of your portfolio that's on CTD, the more powerful everyone's network becomes.
How VC firms use CTD
From sourcing to recruiting
Source, diligence & win deals
See who in your fund's network knows a founding team. When firms compete for the same deal, the warmest path wins.
Turn 60 founders into 5M+ warm paths
When portfolio founders join as external members, their networks become warm paths for the entire fund - founders help founders.
Help portcos land customers
Your network already has warm paths to the decision-makers at your portfolio companies' target accounts - made visible and actionable.
Find & place top talent
Natural-language search for candidates - CROs, VPs of Sales - across the firm's entire network, with the strongest path to each.
Drive event attendance
Hosting a leaders' dinner or gathering? Find the right attendees and coordinate warm intros through the best-connected person.
Walk into LP meetings warm
See which attendees connect to your firm's network - so every conversation is warm and every meeting is intentional.
FAQ
Common questions
New to the category? Read our explainer on relationship intelligence for VC & PE.
We already have a CRM and deal-sourcing tools. How is this different?
Your CRM tracks companies and deals. CTD maps the people - and more importantly, who across your entire fund already knows them. It's the relationship layer between your collective network and the founders you want to reach. Deal-sourcing tools tell you what to look at; CTD tells you who can get you in the room.
What about confidentiality? Some relationships are sensitive.
You're always in control of what you share. You can mark any connection as private so no one else can see it - or start with a fully closed network and whitelist exactly who's allowed to see your connections.